1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to medical or veterinary equipment and, more precisely, to retractor apparatus for opening and maintaining open wounds or incisions or cavities in humans or in animals. The apparatus is primarily intended for use in the field of abdominal surgery and, in the gynecological field, as a speculum, for vaginal and cervical examinations or surgery.
2. Description of the Prior Art in the Abdominal Surgery Field
Apparatus called retractors are customarily used in surgical operations, during which, once the incision has been made, the tissues must be disengaged and held back in order to expose, for example, the abdominal cavity. The cavity thus exposed is kept open until the surgery has been terminated. The surgical retractors used up until now consist of a plurality of independent retractable blades, each blade usually having a long handle attached to a supporting ring, this ring being fixed to the operating table by means of an extension rod and a support-post. Various improvements have been made to these retractors, making it unnecessary for assistants or nurses to hold them, and also making it possible to provide different degrees of opening with the same equipment. The disadvantage inherent in the design of these retractors is that the device carrying the retractor blades and the parts which serve to support this device inevitably restrict access to the area requiring surgery. Inadequate exposure is a hindrance to the operator and can be particularly dangerous in micro-surgery, where, the surgeon's visibility being limited by the optical instruments that he is using and, since he must manipulate without visual information in the zone where he moves his hands, it is of extreme importance that the area situated outside the opening should be completely unimpeded.
In the field of abdominal surgery, the present invention aims at providing a new type of apparatus, which meets practical requirements better than did past retractors and, in particular, by freeing access to the wound or incision opening, enables the surgeon to exert the required pressure, without assistance, at the said opening.
3. Description of the Prior Art in the Gynecological Field
Apparatus called speculums are customarily used in gynecology when a medical examination or surgery is needed. This is because the vagina walls are normally closed together, so that visual observation is practically impossible.
Vaginal speculums, as we know them, consist of a pair of blades, one of which can be adjusted in relation to the other in order to induce a widening of the vaginal cavity for examination, treatment, or possible surgery of the vagina or of the cervix.
Speculums present three disadvantages inherent in their design.